Never Look Down: A Cal Claxton Oregon Mystery

Easley’s well-paced third Cal Claxton mystery (after 2014’s Dead Float) finds the Oregon lawyer doing pro bono work for Portland’s disadvantaged at his office in what he calls the Caffeine Central building in the city’s Old Town. Cal also looks out for the building’s landlord, Hernando Mendoza. When Hernando’s fiancée is shot dead in Old Town late one night, high school student Kelly Spence, the tagger (graffiti artist) known as K209, witnesses the murder while spray painting an image on a nearby building and escapes only after the killer takes several shots at her shadowy figure. The killer, who leaves a bloody trail in his wake, and Cal race to find her, but Kelly avoids them both, not knowing whom she can trust. When Cal and Kelly do connect, they make a formidable and unlikely team as they try to find justice for the killer’s victims. Cal’s name is on the title page, but plucky and resourceful Kelly steals this tense adventure. (Sept.)